Juicing Tips for Beginners: Making Juicing Easier

You aren’t here by accident. The fact that you are searching for juicing tips tells me that you are serious about your overall health.

Thank you for doing your due diligence and researching before you start.

Juicing Tips for Beginners

You may have heard a lot of stuff that people have said about juicing.

Media have mentioned how bad it is to your health. But I’m here to tell you nothing could be further from the truth only if you do it right.

If you follow these tips, you’ll be on your way to a healthier lifestyle with more energy than you had before.

Remember that while juicing takes time, it is an investment to your health, and health is wealth.

Let’s start with the basics.

What is juicing?

At its core, juicing is the process of separating the liquid contents of fruits and vegetables using a tool called a juicer.

Now, there are many types of juicers that you can choose from, but all these machines have the same function.

It takes fruits and vegetables, then separates the pulp from the liquid, and the process will be different depending on the type of juicer.

Remember that you can’t juice everything.

For example, avocado and banana have almost zero liquid content, so don’t bother putting these in a juicer because you’ll get zero juice from it.

If you want to add these ingredients to your recipe, then you’ll have to use a blender to chop up these fruits into a smooth consistency and then mix in the elements you’ve prepared with a juicer.

Juicing and blending are different.

Juicing and blending are different, and people confuse one from the other.

For example, when celery goes through a juicer, it separates the fiber from liquid, and what you’ll get is celery juice without the fiber.

Contrast that to blending that where blades will chop celery so finely that it will resemble a puree more than juice.

That’s the reason why you need to add water in smoothie recipes to lessen the thickness.

Think of blending as a process of pureeing fruits and vegetables and whatever ingredient you put in.

And the beauty of blending is the flexibility it gives you to add certain ingredients such as cereal, frozen berries, or oatmeal. You wouldn’t be able to do this in a juicer.

The options are limitless.

To summarize, blending retails all of the fiber and juice present in whatever produce you put in because the blades will finely chop it. It’ll give you a much fuller drink with all the fiber intact.

Juice extracted from a juicer does not have any fiber and goes directly to the bloodstream. This option is great if you want to drink juice for specific conditions like diabetes.

Which is better?

It all boils down to personal preference, for me I like both.

If I want a quick breakfast without having to chew down my food, I will go with a smoothie because it leaves a fuller feeling.

And if you like berries blending them up is better than juicing because you’ll be able to benefit from the pulp and enjoy the contrasting flavors of the different berries you put in.

But if I want to treat something specific, let’s say high blood sugar. I’d go with juicing because I could easily consume the specific ingredients like bitter melon or ginger and have it absorb directly into the bloodstream.

What fruits and vegetables are the best for juice?

Veggies To Juice

All fruits and vegetables are suitable for your health.

What you want to do is add different colors to your juice. It is known as the rainbow principle so that you’ll get all the nutrients that each color brings to the table.

These are just guidelines that will help make your juicing experience healthier. When appropriately done, juicing can be a part of a healthy diet.

1. More greens, less fruit

The biggest mistake a newbie can make is adding too much fruit. A little fruit is okay, but putting in too much puts you at risk of diabetes in the long run because it doesn’t have any pulp to slow down the absorption process.

Use the 80/20 principle when making your recipes. It means 80% will be leafy greens with the other 20% fruit. I’ve created an infographic that will help guide you to make your recipes make sure to check it out.

Remember that the primary purpose of fruit is just making the juice taste better, and that’s it. Granted, some fruits have low sugar content such as lemon and grapefruit, but these are sour.

Here’s an infographic I created that gives you a guide to help you make your recipe.

It shows you which fruits and vegetables work together and the exact amount you should put in to take out the guesswork and headaches in coming up with your recipes.

2. Organic is better than conventional produce

Granted that conventional produce is cheaper, it has pesticide residue on it. Organic food is more expensive, but you have the peace of mind that it does not have any pesticide residue.

What if you can’t afford to go all-organic?

The solution is to know which one contains the most amount of pesticide and an excellent tool for determining that is the EWG’s Dirty Dozen and Clean Fifteen. You can refer to this list every time you go to your local grocery or farmer’s market and buy only the top 3 or top 5 “dirtiest” produce organic, so you don’t burn your wallet.

3. Rotate the ingredients

Too much of a good thing is bad as they say and yes that’s true with vegetables, well at least some of them particularly cruciferous vegetables like cabbage and kale. So you need to eat a different type of vegetable each day of the week.

Let’s say use kale as your main ingredient on Monday, celery on Tuesday, wild greens and Wednesday, and so on.

Doing this not only diversifies the flavor, but it ensures you that you get the most amount of nutrients from the fruit and vegetable food pyramid.

What’s the best juicer?

So you’ve made up your mind, but with so many options, it can get overwhelming. Just follow these guidelines.

Juicers

The best juicer is the one that you’ll use. To get that type of juicer, you’ll to answer these questions to narrow down which one that will best fit your needs.

What’s your budget?

Prices vary, the very top of the line press juicers can set you back a few thousand dollars, but there are good ones available for less than $200.

Are you going to juice a lot of leafy green vegetables? Or juice fruit? Or a mix of both

If you’re juicing leafy greens, then you’ll have to get a juicer like this, if you’re juicing fruit, then a centrifugal juicer may work well for you. If you like a mixture of both, then go for any of these masticating juicers.

Do you want the highest quality juice or you’re not particular with that?

If you want the maximum amount of nutrition inside every ounce of juice you make, then go with a slow juicer or a twin gear juicer.

Unlike centrifugal juicers that spin at several thousand rpm, these machines only need a few hundred rpm to extract juice from fruits and veggies, of course, the process will take a little bit longer.

Are you always in a hurry?

If you want to grab a cup of fresh juice morning and only have a few minutes to spare, then a centrifugal juicer may be the best choice for you. These extractors are capable of going through any fruit and vegetable in less than a minute. Just make sure to rinse off the excess pulp ASAP, or it will be a pain to clean up.

How much space do you have at home? Do you mind having a big juicer?

Horizontal auger juicers like the Omega NC800 are bulky and take up lots of space. If space is a concern, then you’ll have to consider a vertical juicer such as the Omega VRT or Kuvings Whole Slow Juicer.

These juicers don’t take as much horizontal footprint but won’t be as efficient juicing leafy greens.

The learning curve will be steeper because there are methods that you’ll have to learn to maximize the functionality of these machines.

One such method would be chopping fibrous ingredients like celery so it won’t clog the ejection port.

This is perhaps the single biggest complaint first-time consumers have, and manufacturers don’t include that information in their instruction guide!

Another would be alternating leafy greens and ingredients with mass (such as carrots or lemon) to maximize yield from vegetables.

Do you have kids or pets at home?

Centrifugal juicers are notoriously loud and turning it one will undoubtedly scare away your toddler or pet dog.

Brands like Jack Lallane have successfully toned down the amount of noise their machines produce at the expense of power.

If you want something quiet, then buying a slow juicer is the way to go.

No one-size-fits-all juicer

The truth is no juicer does not have any drawbacks. Each juicer has its limitations, and you will have to weigh your options carefully by prioritizing what’s most important to you.

Is it the speed, quality of juice, price, or something else that way you can maximize the juicer and use it more often.

What if I don’t want to invest in a juicer? Can I still enjoy fresh juice?

Yes, it is possible, but there is an extra step in the process that I explain in this article.

You can also buy a blender that enough power to blend even leafy greens and turn them into smooth juice.

Just add more water to it to give it more juice-like consistency. If you don’t mind the added step, it’s a good alternative.

Prep matters

Whether you’re buying organic or conventional, washing fruits and vegetables well is probably the most critical step in your juice preparation.

This step removes any loose soil trapped on stems or leaves. It also helps flush out excess pesticides.

Wash Produce

It is particularly important if you add root crops like beet or veggies that grow in the soil like celery.

Even for organic produce, you’ll still need to wash it. Yes, it doesn’t contain pesticides, but there will be loose soil and even worms on it. Trust me, I’ve seen small worms inside organic celery.

Add ingredients with high water content.

ZucchiniIngredients like celery, cucumber, and zucchini have a lot of water content in them with almost zero sugar.

Adding these ingredients will increase the yield of any juice recipe minus the excess calories and sugar.

Another benefit these have is that these are diuretic.

It means it will help the liver and kidneys flush out excess water and detoxify.

Just make sure to drink lots of water throughout the day to prevent any dehydration.

Have a grocery list

When buying produce, make sure to buy only the ingredients you’ll use within the week.

Buy too much and risk spoilage and waste money on unused ingredients. I did that several times when I was starting.

You can base this grocery list on the infographic I shared earlier or utilized a paid app created by Joe Cross.

Regardless, the important thing is to plan your recipes ahead of time and make a shopping list.

Drink as soon as you can

To get the most out of every cup of juice you make, drink it as quickly as possible to enjoy the nutritional benefits juicing brings to the table. Drink it no later than 20 minutes after it comes out of a juicer.

But if you must store it, store it in an airtight glass or BPA free plastic container filled to the brim. Juices last anywhere from 24 to 36 hours, depending on which type of juicer you use.

Chop fibrous greens

It only applies when you are using a horizontal masticating juicer like a Hurom HU-100 or Omega VRT.

I’ve read lots of reviews by consumers complaining about clogged juicers because they fail to do this step.

Juicing Celery

The solution is simple. Bring out the chopping board and chop stuff like celery or kale into smaller bits.

Failing to do this step will result in a clogged juicer.

Now back to you

These are just some of the practical tips that I’ve learned from my juicing journey.

A lot of these are just lessons I’ve learned from research and mistakes that I made along the way.

I’ve also published another article about juicing mistakes that I’m sure you’ll find helpful.

If you have any more tips to add, feel free to share it in the comments section below.

2 thoughts on “Juicing Tips for Beginners: Making Juicing Easier”

  1. Its a nice a article for me, best for my mom, I actually first read this months ago before i shop online for the possible juicer that my mom will be using. I am using a blender before and it educates me to whats the difference.
    We tend to blend green leafy vegetables, what we call the ‘green diet’ no preservatives, just pure one. the respond to her health is really amazing.

    Juicer price depends on a budget, we actually saw an online article for cheaper yet affordable juicer, for readers like with the same type of looking you may follow the link https://www.shorisuperstore.com for reference. You may like browsing the site as if not only offers that I am looking for.

  2. Stephanie Gatas

    This was SUCH a helpful article!!! Nutrition is broken down on so many sites but the basic “Things To Consider” aren’t nearly as available. This not only hit those points, but really broke them down to discuss what the important parts (well, for me, at least!)

    Thanks so much!

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